United Commercial Travelers, calling Columbus home since 1888

Wednesday

Oct 2, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 8, 2013 at 8:04 PM

FILE PHOTO

The Order of the United Commercial Travelers of America was formed by eight traveling salesmen at a meeting at Columbus' Neil House hotel in 1888. The group was created as a fraternal society for traveling salesmen, or "commercial travelers," and to provide insurance products for them.

The Dennison-Peters house in Columbus is shown in this postcard as the "Supreme Headquarters" of the group (circa 1910).

FILE PHOTO

The Order of the United Commercial Travelers of America was formed by eight traveling salesmen at a meeting at Columbus' Neil House hotel in 1888. The group was created as a fraternal society for traveling salesmen, or "commercial travelers," and to provide insurance products for them.

The Dennison-Peters house in Columbus is shown in this postcard as the "Supreme Headquarters" of the group (circa 1910).

The house, on North Park Street on the southeast corner of Park and Russell in the Short North, was built in 1873 by William A. Neil of Neil House fame. It was later occupied by William Dennison Jr., the 24th governor of Ohio, and then was the home of George Merion Peters, who was affiliated with the Columbus Buggy Company and the Peters Dash Company. The United Commercial Travelers used this building as its headquarters from 1903 until it was demolished in the early 1920s to make room for a new HQ building.

FILE PHOTO

The new building, ABOVE, was UCT's home for more than 80 years, from 1924 to 2008, when it moved to its current headquarters on Watermark Drive.

Today, UCT continues its tradition as a fraternal benefit society that focuses on volunteering in the community and still provides insurance coverage to members (anyone, not just traveling salesmen). The group has helped people with intellectual disabilities, its main community service project, for more than 50 years. It supports the American Special Hockey Association, Special Olympics, and other programs.

EAMON QUEENEY / DISPATCH

The renovated UCT building at 632 N. Park St., ABOVE, was recently transformed into the new permanent home for the Pizzuti Collection, a non-profit exhibition space dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art. It opened last month (September 2013).

The 18,000-square-foot gallery includes indoor and outdoor sculpture, painting, drawing, photography and video, and will host programs, lectures, events and a research library.